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The Boondocks is an animated series that aired intermittently on [adult swim] from 2005 to 2014, running for a total of four seasons with 55 episodes. It was adapted from the comic strip of the same name that was created by Aaron McGruder.

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Other important characters include Uncle Ruckus (Gary Anthony Williams), an old black man who has a deep hatred of his own race. Also returning is Tom Dubois (Cedric Yarbrough), a very friendly yet hapless black lawyer with a white wife Sarah (Jill Talley) and a mixed daughter Jazmine (Gabby Soleil). Compared to the comic strip, there's a considerably larger cast of strange and colorful characters, both recurring and one-time.

Like the comic strip, this series satirizes many issues about African Americans and the United States in general, but takes a different approach to it. Rather than just overt social commentary, the series's brand of humor is far more over-the-top, with the Freemans constantly getting into wacky misadventures with weird people, along with the obligatory martial arts action scene.

Tropes:

Robert uses his belt rather liberally to discipline his grandsons, especially Riley. Granted though, Riley is very poorly behaved most of the time, but you can't help but think that his Granddad still overdoes it.

Luna grew up with an abusive father. This would later be mirrored by Luna's relationships with abusive boyfriends. This all explains why she's so crazy and distrustful of men.

This is the reason Lamilton Taeshawn's grandmother gives for her grandson's sociopathic behavior, saying that he comes from a family where everyone is an alcoholic and abuse each other. Unlike Uncle Ruckus' situation, this all bores Huey and Granddad.

Uncle Ruckus' father and paternal grandmother, who were grade-A assholes who took out life's frustrations on their own children. Uncle was savagely abused by his father Mister, who in turn had learned it from his own mother Nelly. Uncle Ruckus was so emotionally scarred that combined with copying his mother's extreme love of white people, he learned to hate most black people.

Thelma. In all three versions of the Catcher Freeman story, she participated in a deadly slave revolt against Colonel Lynchwater; although in Robert and Ruckus' versions of the story, she was mostly a Distressed Damsel and a Femme Fatale, respectively. In the true and final version of the story, she was the rebelling slaves' leader, who actually fought a sword duel with Lynchwater.

Ming Long-dou is a preteen example, who is surprisingly deadly with her kickball skills. It should be noted that the kickball game is played out like a brutal brawl with lots of beatings and fighting.

There are many references to John Witherspoon's and Regina King's roles in Friday here and there. Heck, at on point, Granddad even references the climax of the film where Craig fought Deebo, only with him in Craig's role. Riley quickly calls him out on it that he just got it from the film.

Actual Pacifist: The Freedom Riders in "Freedom Ride or Die" are taught and pledged to be this in their efforts to show their moral superiority over the racists in the '60s. Their leader, Sturdy Harris, is more of a Martial Pacifist. Robert himself rejects their pacifism, believing it is better to either flee from or fight back against the angry racist mobs.

After the End: "The Fried Chicken Flu". It appears that most of the world is dead, society is breaking down, and the Freeman house may be the last safe place, all thanks to a mysterious virus caused by fried chicken. It turns out that the media blew things out of proportion. No one's actually dead and the "flu" is just salmonella. It's also shown that Ruckus and his group are the only ones dressed in that Mad Max gear, which Thugnificent points out.

Animation Bump: The overall visual quality of the Season 1 animation is absolutely nothing compared to the Season 2 or 3 animation, which makes it hard to re-watch old episodes at times.

Animesque: McGruder specifically ordered the TV series to be made with an anime-inspired design, right down to hiring the South Korean animation studios Moi Animation, owned by the Japanese studio Madhouse, who did some uncredited work and Dong Woo Animation, owned by Studio Gallop, to help animate the series. Especially notable is that mouth movement is not smooth in the series, unlike most Western animated shows.

When Uncle Ruckus came to the Freeman household to exorcise Tom, who is possessed by the spirit of Stinkmeaner, he used the following tools: a whip, a noose, a night stick, a branding iron and a job application. According to the self-hating Ruckus, these are the things that the black man fears the most.

"She called me obsessed... disturbed... icky." Said by the obsessed counselor in "Smokin' with Cigarettes"

A visual example in "The Color Ruckus", when Uncle Ruckus is telling the story of his childhood. When his father is throwing him out of the house: he steps on a rake, which hits him in the face and gives him his trademark bulging eye and broken teeth; he steps in a bear trap, giving him a limp; and he gets wet paint from the fence on his shirt. His mother cries it'll need a presoak to get out.

Ascended Meme: In "Mr. Medicinal", Riley states that he's going to challenge Jaden Smith to a fight if he moves to LA. This is a reference to many popular pictures comparing Riley to the new Karate Kid.

As You Know: Grandad even says "Look, nobody needs to be reminded of that tragic day you gave that girl a permanent severe limp" right before telling the story.

Audience Surrogate: Ebony Brown, who deconstructs Uncle Ruckus' appeal, leans on the fourth wall, and expresses a desire to be a part of the main characters' wacky adventures. The fact that she's mind-bogglingly attractive and practically a saint suggests that McGruder is either playing around by making an in-universe Mary Sue fanfic in his own show, or he really, really appreciates his audience. She also might be McGruder's reply to black feminists who criticized him for not having a black woman as a regular on the show. He's basically saying this is the only character black women would be happy with, but there's no way she's going to be in the cast.

Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Every once in awhile the Freemans will have a moment that demonstrate that deep down, they care about each other's well being. It's often one-sided and understated, but with the way characters usually act, it still says a lot.

Try not to throw any chairs when a large amount of black people are present.

The "Nigga Moment" as a whole occurs when two or more black people get into an altercation because one party regards a petty slight as this. The two individuals involved don't even need to be actual niggasnote Defined by Huey (and here I paraphrase) as black people who behave in a manner that reinforces negative stereotypes. If Riley thinks it's cool, it's probably nigga behavior. for a Nigga Moment to occur; two otherwise intelligent black people can start a Nigga Moment simply because one of them won't let the issue go.

Don't try to shorten A Pimp Named Slickback's name when you address him:

A Pimp Named Slickback: A Pimp Named Slickback! It's like A Tribe Called Quest, you say the whole thing!

Big Damn Heroes: Thugnificent and his crew rescuing the Freemans and DuBoises in "The Fried Chicken Flu".

Bittersweet Ending: "Bitches to Rags" leaves Thugnificent bankrupt and forced to sell his home. However, he sort of manages to make a comeback as a UPS delivery man, realizing the "rapper lifestyle" wasn't going to last forever and that he had to move on. He does decide to makes a reality TV show based on his post rap career, though.

Black Comedy: No pun intended. This series has a very cynical sense of humor. Corrupt authorities, racial stereotypes, and violent crime are all Played for Laughs.

Stinkmeaner and the Hateocracy bully other people for no reason other than having some evil fun.

Lamilton Taeshawn has the same motives for his crimes as well.

Deborah Leevil is a cackling and scheming supervillainess who plans to destroy black people. She insists that BET doesn't stand for Black Entertainment Television, but Black Evil Television.

Cassandra Truth: Played depressingly straight with Huey as far as everyone hitting him, cursing him out, or fiendishly mocking him whenever he speaks the truth about the world around him:

In the "The Fundraiser", Riley actually recognizes that everything Huey says comes true. However, he just decides not to listen, because he doesn't like spoilers thinks things go wrong because Huey talks about them.

However, Riley makes an exception when Huey gives him a bulletproof vest, and makes the smart move of constantly wearing it. It ends up saving his life.

In "The Fried Chicken Flu" this becomes a major plot point, since Huey has been preparing for the end. Hell, his survival plan is even titled, "I Told You So." They have enough food, supplies, and backup power for four people. Unfortunately, no one but Jazmine read Huey's plan, and because Riley and Granddad refused to listen to him for their own selfish ends, nine people occupy the house, the power goes out, and food becomes scarce. It all goes to waste however; everyone in Woodcrest mistakenly thought the world was ending, when in fact the "killer fried chicken flu" was just an outbreak of salmonella.

In the Season 3 finale, Granddad lampshades this at the very end:

Granddad: Wow, Huey. You were totally right this time. Just imagine all the problems we could avoid if we just listened to you. Oh well.

The Cartel: In "The Lovely Ebony Brown", we see that one of Robert's ex-girlfriends was a female Dominican drug boss, who brought an armed henchman to their date.

Tom. He starts out as a hypocrite and, for lack of a more poignant term, a pussy. His main fear was being anally raped in prison, and yet, as a prosecutor, he sent many young men to that same fate. He realizes his hypocrisy, and decides to become a defense attorney, and goes to therapy to get over his phobia. He does well, and decides to test himself by chaperoning a "scared stiff" program, where boys are shown around a prison to scare them straight. He freaks out and leaves them at the mercy of the rioting prisoners, then realizes what a horrible thing he did. While on the rescue mission, he is confronted by a naked prisoner in the shower, who attempts to rape him. Tom actually stands and fights against him, and comes out victorious.

Uncle Ruckus. He starts as just a self-hating, bitter, black man who works 47 jobs and claims to have "re-vitiligo," a made up disease that makes him black. It is revealed in the episode "The Color Ruckus" that he hates black people because he was actually brought up in a black family in which his father and grandmother were terrible to him, and his mother, who was very nice to him, would teach him all about how great she thought white people were. He probably was not adopted and does not have re-vitiligo, even if he still thinks so. At the end of the episode, he decides that he shouldn't hate black people, but rather, feel sorry for them. This isn't much of an improvement, but it's probably better than hating them. However, this character development is thrown out the window by Season 4, as Ruckus is just as hateful as before.

Riley. Even being a established main character, Season 1 only has three episodes focused on him. And only "Rilery Wuz Here" has a real conflict and development. Season 2, on the other hand, has half of the first ten episodes about him and his development as a person.

Characterization Marches On: It happens in general in the series compared to the comic strip. The series is more social commentary than political, and thus focuses on the ways people can be ignorant. As a result, the characters are changed to reflect this:

Granddad, who is in the comic strip a wise but weary man who just wants to enjoy his golden years, becomes self-centered, greedy, and obsessed with appearances.

Riley is more of an exaggeration of himself; he is even more "thug life" than he was in the comic strip, but in addition becomes a Small Name, Big Ego and loses much of his "clever but willfully Book Dumb" traits.

Huey becomes less extreme, less aggressively opinionated and becomes wiser; basically, his Jerk with a Heart of Gold activist traits are traded for amplifying his Only Sane Man traits. This, in turn, leads him to not quite need a foil to mellow him out and point out when he's being hypocritical, which resulted in Michael Caesar not needing to make an appearance.

Nearly every character from the comic strip gets some kind of alteration: Tom's foppish traits become the entire basis for his character, as well as his marriage problems. Jazmine's problems with racial identity are downplayed in favor of her extreme naivete. But nobody gets this greater than Cindy McPhearson, who is a completely different character: she goes from being a racially ignorant ditz in the comic strip to being an even crazier version of Riley in the series.

In "The Trial of R. Kelly", a jury full of R. Kelly fans are easily convinced that the trial was all about racism against the defendant. Never mind that there's a lot of damning evidence against R. Kelly. In the same episode, Uncle Ruckus claims to have served on a (mostly) white jury in the 1950s, where he convicted a blind black man of shooting white women.

In "The Passion of Reverend Ruckus", Shabazz K. Milton Berle was sentenced to death for the murder of a cop, even though the real killer, Eli Gorbinsky, shouted to everyone that he did it, and left all the evidence at the scene.

Comically Missing the Point: Ruckus has a seething hatred of black people and everything about them despite not only being black, but being one of the darkest skinned characters in the series. He insists he has "that thing Michael Jackson had, but in reverse."

Conflict Ball: The "Nigga Moment" is essentially this In-Universe. It describes a moment when ignorance overwhelms the mind of an otherwise logical black man, causing him to act in an illogical, self-destructive manner, such as getting into a shootout over a guy brushing against their shoulder on the street. Its inverse is "Nigga Synthesis"; when willfully ignorant black men join together and bond over something trivial and/or stupid. The two are not mutually exclusive, as Applied Mathematics teaches us that a "Nigga Moment" + "Nigga Synthesis" = "Complete &$%^ing Disaster".

Continuity Nod: It's safe to say that the series is rife with these. Including several episodes that were (very loosely) adapted from the comic strip:

The Season 1 opening prominently features a profile of Huey seen from the side, reminiscent of how he appears in the comic strip.

In a few episodes, Huey can be seen near a tree on a hill, an iconic stock setting from the comic strip.

"Granddad's Fight" gets three sequel episodes, forming a tetralogy (one episode per season), all of them about Robert's Nigga Moment with Stinkmeaner, and how it keeps coming back to haunt him.

"A Huey Freeman Christmas" features Riley having a vendetta against Santa Claus, and assaulting two Mall Santas (one of whom is Uncle Ruckus), which was originally in the comic strip.

In "Let's Nab Oprah", Huey emphasizes his reasons against Riley hanging out with Ed and Rummy to Granddad, by reminding him of the mini-mart robbery from "A Date with the Health Inspector".

"Riley Wuz Here" combines two plots that were originally from the comic strip; the main plot is about Riley committing a graffiti spree throughout the neighborhood (though his modus operandi is different), while the side plot is about Huey experimenting with only watching TV shows about black people for two weeks straight.

"The Block Is Hot" adapts and expands one comic strip about Jazmine running a lemonade stand, complete with a scene where Riley and Robert ask her stupid questions about the lemonade.

"Tom, Sarah and Usher" alludes to a story arc from the comic strip about Tom staying with the Freemans after Sarah kicks him out, although the reasons for their split are completely different.

"Pretty Boy Flizzy" shows Sarah kicking out Tom yet again, but an annoyed Robert decides to keep Tom out of the Freeman house this time.

In "Shinin'", Thugnificent makes it clear that if his rap career fails, he and the rest of the Lethal Interjection Crew will turn to crime - with Flonominal specifically mentioning crack dealing. The exception is Leonard, who thinks he'd be fine working at Wendy's.

In "Bitches to Rags", the jig is up, and Thugnificent is being supported by Leonard, who really did get a job at Wendy's, until Thugnificent decides to just sell crack.

"Invasion of the Katrinians" also adapts a comic arc about Robert's relatives from New Orleans seeking refuge at his house after Hurricane Katrina, although it plays out very differently.

"It's a Black President, Huey Freeman" contains the very first line Huey said in the intro for "The Garden Party", and later his plan is foiled because he can't get a ride (which is what happened before in "The Passion of Reverend Ruckus").

"The Story of Lando Freeman" starts and ends with the lawn needing to be mowed, with a mention that whenever Ruckus doesn't do the lawn, it's always Huey who has to do it. A running gag from the comic strip involved Granddad forcing Huey to mow the lawn.

In "The Lovely Ebony Brown", when Huey and Riley hear that Granddad has a new date, the boys remember Granddad's past dating experiences and they freak out.

Oddly in "Breaking Granddad", there's a passing joke about Jazmine's insecurity with her curly afro hair, which was a running gag in the comic strip.

Ed Wuncler I and his son Ed Wuncler II use their money and power to accumulate even more wealth through unethical and unlawful means. They get away with all of this because they've been outright deemed to be above the law.

Ed Wuncler I's business rival, Mr. Long-dou of Wushung, China, is a gambler who decides to bet Wuncler's debt to him over a kickball game, and even bribes the referee to allow the Chinese team to cheat (Wuncler bribed him too, Long-dou's bribe was just bigger).

The UK-based World's Ultimate Chocolate company is run by Alistair Ripley, who treats chocolate fundraisers like drug trafficking. He even hires thugs to harass children for competing against him.

Crapsaccharine World: Woodcrest may be a mostly affluent suburban city, but it's anything except quiet and peaceful, as the Freemans will learn. In "Good Times", Granddad considers moving out because their lives haven't been any easier in this town.

Crapsack World: African American stereotypes are rampant, corrupt rich white people get away with everything, and any world where Uncle Ruckus isn't locked inside an insane asylum is a bad one.

Ed Wuncler: (after showing off his impressive team of mercenaries and Dominican children) Tell me that you don't want to be part of kickball history. Huey: (without so much as changing the expression on his face) I don't want to be part of kickball history.

Huey, so that we can get more of Granddad's wacky adventures in dating and Riley's thuggery! because Huey was basically the tool McGruder used to comment on current events. Current events are much more suited to daily strips because they'redaily. If he tried to use current events in an episode that takes months to make, it wouldn't be current anymore.

Neither Jazmine nor Gin Rummy had any lines for the first half of Season 3.

Denser and Wackier: The tone of the comic strip was overall mundane and down-to-earth, mostly focused on everyday life and social commentary. The TV series is far more outlandish and over-the-top, with crazier situations and the addition of action scenes. And somehow, it keeps getting weirder with every season.

"...Or Die Trying": revealed that the trod-upon movie theater employee Huey had talked into unionizing got the whole place shut down by the management and lost their jobs.

"Attack of the Killer Kung-Fu Wolf Bitch": Poor Luna got a new lease on life after a tension-filled standoff with the Freemans, only to kill herself just a few minutes later after being egged on by her friend, who ironically is heard saying words of encouragement afterwards.

"It's Goin' Down": Wuncler turns his usual Karma Houdini routine Up to Eleven and Huey, when encouraged by Agent Flowers that "They don't win until you give up", walks off as disillusioned as ever, echoing The White Shadow's line "You can't fight the future. Don't waste your life trying."

"Good Times": Granddad's excessive debt forces him to sell the family to what is essentially slavery to Ed Wuncler II and Uncle Ruckus. Though, whether this sticks or not is debatable.

In "A Huey Freeman Christmas", Jazmine has a dream about giving a sermon at a church, telling worshipers to praise Santa Claus, whom she confuses for Jesus.

In "The Passion of Reverend Ruckus", Ruckus has a dream in which he visits "White Heaven" and meets his hero Ronald Reagan.

In "Ballin'", Riley dreams that he's a super-talented NBA basketball star, but somehow Granddad manages to ruin it for him.

In "Stinkmeaner 3: The Hateocracy", Robert has a nightmare in which an army of Stinkmeaner clones attack his house, and they chase him across town.

End-of-Series Awareness: Later episodes such as "Mr. Medicinal" have Granddad make thinly veiled references to the end of the series, using wordplay that could be used to describe his old age.

Enemies Equals Greatness: Huey and Riley took a minute to discuss thisnin "Shinin'" where the latter is excited about receiving a chain from Thugnificent:

Riley: "I can't wait for niggas to start hatin! I can't wait!" Huey: "So you judge your success by the amount of ill-will you generate from those around you?" Riley: "Hey, if niggas ain't mad at you, then you doin' something wrong." Huey: "By that definition then, you have a very bright future."

Riley to the point where Butch Magnus took his chain from him. Of course, Huey did warn him that invoking envy from others can cause trouble.

Huey and Uncle Ruckus plan to run away to Canada together when Barack Obama becomes president, Uncle Ruckus for obvious reasons and Huey because it's proof we've moved beyond racism.

Huey and Agent Jack Flowers team up to stop a homegrown terrorist attack. Especially so, since Agent Flowers is a federal agent who previously held Huey under suspicion of planning to commit the very attack.

Enfante Terrible: Lamilton and pretty much every named child in the series, save for Jazmine.

In Huey's play The Adventures of Black Jesus, while we don't know anything about the plot, samurai were apparently involved as they are present at rehearsal, and one takes a bow at the end of opening night.

"Fawlty Towers" Plot: In "The Story of Jimmy Rebel", Uncle Ruckus records some racist songs for his equally racist country singing idol Jimmy Rebel, but pretends to be his black slave instead after meeting him face-to-face.

Flanderization: While not fully given that much characterization when introduced, when Tom makes his debut in "The Trial of R. Kelly" he comes off as a regular, somewhat goody two-shoes of a lawyer, who was, among other things, left speechless in a debate with an eight year old. After that it just went downhill. He finally got some of his dignity back in "A Date with the Booty Warrior".

Huey and Riley as the representations of the series' point of contrast between wisdom (Huey) and ignorance (Riley).

Grandpa to Ruckus as old-fashioned men with very different beliefs as to what old-fashioned wisdom and right is, a major reason why they are often played off each other as "friends," and the very point of one episode's subplot.

Stinkmeaner and the Hateocracy lived this, according to his flashbacks. They were Jerkasses to an extreme level. His posse say that they "don't need a reason to fuck shit up."

This is LamiltonTaeshawn's excuse for his sociopath behavior, stating that "It's fun to do bad things."

Free-Range Children: This is lessened somewhat in the series, as Granddad often attempts to restrain them from doing anything crazy, but as the series goes on they're able to get away with more and more anyway (at one point, for example, they're able to effortlessly sneak into a movie studio).

Gratuitous English: A necessary instance of this happens in the Japanese dub: Since the use of the Japanese equivalent word for nigger and similar slurs is not allowed in both Japanese media and translations, the translators solves this problem by using the same words untranslated from English and sometimes from other languages like Spanish, like the Señor Piñata insult, who was also untranslated in that dub.note Oddly enough, because Señor Piñata could be translated easily to Japanese without issues, since it's not a slur. This is not exclusive for insults and slurs: Some names and sometimes even honorifics remains untranslated: Both A Pimp Named Slickbacknote ア・ピンプ・ネームド・スリックバック and Uncle Ruckus'snote アンクル・ラッカス are the same in English in the Japanese version, albeit in his case, Uncle is his name, not a honorific.

In "The Color Ruckus", Riley admits that Uncle Ruckus' story was sad, but said that he was not going to cry because that would be "gay". Later in the episode, after Ruckus continues to tell the story, Riley is seen sobbing like a baby.

"Granddad's Fight": Two gangsters are standing two feet away from each other, each shooting an entire clip at each other from point blank range, and neither one gets wounded until the cops show up and waste them both with single shots.

"A Date with the Health Inspector": Ed Wuncler III and Gin Rummy shoot exactly one guy during the shootout at the convenience store, a bystander cop, who somehow lives.

"The Story of Gangstalicious": Three gangsters, one of whom had two guns, run out of bullets without hitting one naked, blindfolded, and slowly-walking man.

"The Block Is Hot": The police attempt to shoot Uncle Ruckus with over a hundred bullets without success, and in the end resort to beating him with nightsticks.

Ink-Suit Actor: A good portion of the characters look exactly like their actors, in costume. Granddad even wears John Witherspoon's trademark white shoes.

Innocent Bigot: This is more of less the default portrayal of minor white characters, at least those that aren't more apathetic than anything else.

Thugnificent: You know, in Latin they say "Terra Belle" means "beautiful earth". But in Georgia, "Terra Belle" means "f**ked up place to live". Terrible Terra Belle.

It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": Subverted - when Robert gets pulled over, he assumes the cop's name is pronounced "Do-shay." It's really pronounced "Douche." Robert thinks it's hilarious. It should be noted that he's completely high when this occurs.

R. Kelly gets away with urinating on an underage girl, despite overwhelming evidence in the form of a self-incriminating video, because he was acquitted by a jury of his absurdly loyal fans.

The Ed Wuncler family line (I, II, & III) and their friend Gin Rummy. Despite all of their blatantly criminal activity, they have enough money and connections to be ignored by the authorities, from the local police to the federal government. However, it might possibly be subverted with Ed III and Rummy, as they are both detained by a rogue federal agent for an indefinite time. But definitely still played straight with Ed I and Ed II.

Eli Gorbinsky, the man who shot a cop named Gary Faulkner, manages to get away scot-free from the crime, because another guy named Shabazz K. Milton-Berle was wrongly convicted of the murder instead.

Jericho Freeman and his large family, who fled New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, decide to stay at Robert's house. However, they quickly take advantage of his hospitality by eating all the food, creating a huge mess in the house, refusing to work, and waiting on a welfare check to solve all of their problems. Jericho even lies about not receiving the check, and returns to New Orleans without repaying the debt.

BETCEO Deborah Leevil is able to get away with murdering two of her own employees; and along with the BET President Wedgie Rudlin, they continue to corrupt their African American audience.

London Gangster: In "The Fundraiser", it turns out that World's Ultimate Chocolate, a company that manufactures candy bars for school fundraisers, is run by an English mob boss named Alistair Ripley, who sends in his thugs to harass Riley's employees.

The Mafia: In "The Fundraiser", a crew of Italian-American mobsters, who are also interested in chocolate trafficking, engage in a deadly shootout with the WUC gangsters and an FBI HRT squad.

Man Hug: Several of the males aren't afraid to hug each other. More often than not, Riley will be on hand to tell them it's gay.

Marijuana Is LSD: When Robert starts smoking weed in "Mr. Medicinal", the world begins to look a lot more bright and colorful for him.

In "A Date with the Health Inspector", Ed III and Rummy rob a mini-mart owned by an Arab man, claiming that he's a terrorist as an excuse. The owner denies being a terrorist, but soon he and two fellow clerks retaliate by shooting assault rifles at Ed and Rummy. It's not exactly clear if they really were terrorists after all.

There's a documentary about Thugnificent's life and career titled Rags to Bitches in "The Story of Thugnificent".

"It's a Black President, Huey Freeman" is presented as a Werner Herzog documentary about local Woodcrest reactions to the 2008 election of Barack Obama. With special parody emphasis on Herzog's ridiculous monologues and narration.

The frame story of "Freedom Ride or Die" is a documentary which interviews Robert Freeman and some old acquaintances regarding their involvement in the Freedom Rides of 1961.

Mondegreen: Lampshaded in-universe in "Bitches to Rags", when Thugnificent talks about how some people mishear the lyrics to "Booty Butt Cheeks":

While Robert asks Rummy what to do about Lando, Rummy keeps suggesting to kill him, claiming that some problems can only be solved with murder.

In Season 4, Ed Wuncler II convinced Robert to sign himself into slavery in exchange for canceling the mortgage. Huey's solution? Kill Ed II with a homemade bomb. The plan never gets off the ground though, as Robert decides to sell the explosive chemicals that Huey made for the job as hair tonic.

Naughty Nuns: Invoked and parodied in "Granddad Dates a Kardashian". An old nun named Mother Maria, who is dying of an illness and offered a chance to be on reality TV if she spices up her tragic stories, lies that she "fucked Eisenhower" and almost died of syphilis.

Lamilton Taeshawn is based on a then 7-year-old Latarian Milton, who appeared in the news twice for taking a joyride in his grandma's car and beating on her. He's also based on another fictional evil child named Henry Evans.

No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Robert shows no mercy to the clone of Stinkmeaner when Ed Wuncler I arranges another fight between them to help pay off Robert's debts. It was a complete Curb-Stomp Battle, but Huey talked Granddad out to making the killing blow.

Noodle Incident: Huey tried to refuse going to the movies with Riley and Robert, noting that the last time they did, they got arrested and shot at. Whatever lead to that is never shown.

Not What It Looks Like: Double Subverted. In "Stinkmeaner Strikes Back", Robert's date walks in on him, Huey, Riley and Uncle Ruckus, who's brandishing a whip, standing around a bed with Tom tied to it, and immediately guesses that they're performing an exorcism. And then dumps Robert over it anyway.

N-Word Privileges: Most of the black characters, and a few white characters, say "nigga" frequently. The DuBois family are an exception though, never saying the word once.

One scene in "The Red Ball" features a team of Chinese kickballers insulting Huey, only for him to reply in Chinese, "I don't like being laughed at." One of the players can barely get out, "Did... he just..." before he's knocked out cold by Huey's pitch.

In "The Trial of R. Kelly", there's mountains of evidence that points to R. Kelly urinating on a 14-year-old girl. He gets away with it, mainly because his lawyer uses some outrageous defense strategy, and the jury is incredibly stupid.

A strange case in "The Passion of Reverend Ruckus". A black man, Shabazz K Milton Berle, who was interning for the Black Panthers, was arrested for the murder of a cop, which occurred just outside. Ridiculous amounts of the evidence, including a court stenographer present at the scene taking down the murderer's explicit confession and identification of himself (which he signed and dated) points to Shabazz not being guilty, but he's arrested anyway and sentenced to death after a few minutes of deliberation by the jury.

Political Correctness Gone Mad: The series as a whole is very politically incorrect. So it's no surprise that the subject of political (in)correctness was parodied and satirized in "The S-Word" and "The New Black".

Huey is established in the series as being well-trained in martial arts. However, the fact remains that he's still a 10-year-old boy, and he usually ends up losing to opponents that have more experience and training than him or in the case of Stinkmeaner, supernatural abilities.

In "The Garden Party", while the Freemans attend a party full of rich white people, Huey attempts to tell "the truth" (Jesus was black, Ronald Reagan was the devil, and the government is lying about 9/11). However, no one believes him because he's just a kid, he has no solid evidence, and everything he says is just his own opinions; also, Huey and Robert believe that if he told people the "the truth", chaos would ensue among white people. That doesn't happen either; just because one person says something, especially when it's a conspiracy theorist's opinion, it doesn't mean that everyone is going to instantly believe said person.

In "Ballin'", it not only references but also deconstructs the whole concept of The Mighty Ducks. What happens when you have a team that has little to no athletic talent? They ended up losing every game they've played in an embarrassing yet hilarious fashion, and the "miracle moment" is given to a team that is more polished athletically.

Played straight in "Stinkmeaner 3: The Hateocracy". The titular group fought and killed Bushido Brown, an already established badass, and after a failed attempt to make peace with them, the Freemans are about to be killed. How are these monsters stopped? The police are called, and the Hateocracy surrender without a fight.

In "The Fried Chicken Flu", Kernel's Fried Chicken, a KFC parody, does a food promotion to introduce a new fried chicken recipe. However, so many people come to try it, there are numerous long lines, people begin getting pissed about waiting so long, and worse several KFC restaurants run out of chicken. Then, Hilarity Ensues when people start rioting.

"The New Black" is awfully similar to "The S-Word", as Riley and Rollo Goodlove get involved in yet another controversy about political correctness.

Refuge in Audacity: Everywhere, but Uncle Ruckus is the standout example. He's an extremely over-the-top white supremacist who happens to be black. He never misses an opportunity to extol the wonders of the white man or complain about everything that's wrong with black people.

Remember the New Guy?: Rollo Goodlove is an interesting example of this due to the episodes being aired Out of Order. He first shows up in "The S-Word" where he's treated as an established character the Freemans have already met, while his debut was in the Banned Episode "The Hunger Strike", which meant American audiences never got a proper introduction to the character.

The plot of "The S-Word" is based on an actual news piece about a black student and his white teacher exchanging the N-word.

The antagonist of "Smokin' with Cigarettes", Lamilton Taeshawn, is a parody of Latarian Milton, a little boy who drove his grandma's car and shortly afterward, attacked her for not buying him chicken wings.

The title character from "A Date with the Booty Warrior" is based on Fleece Johnson, a prisoner who also engaged in rape and sodomy.

Stinkmeaner's frequent run-ins with Robert get worse each time. Pretty amazing considering the first conflict ended in Stinkmeaner's death. Even death and damnation can't end a Nigga Moment, it seems.

Sand In My Eyes: In "The Color Ruckus", Riley cries after hearing Uncle Ruckus' story. He claims that he has allergies.

Sequential Symptom Syndrome: In "The Fried Chicken Flu", Huey explains to Jazmine the symptoms of the eponymous disease, while Tom suffers the symptoms of the illness right behind them, having eaten tainted buffalo wings.

In "The Red Ball", Ed Wuncler I and a Chinese businessman bet the entire town over a game of kickball. Wuncler hires Blackwater mercenaries and Dominican children for his team, only for the former to bail out and the latter to be deported. The Chinese team includes a prodigy who was trained since birth just to play kickball.

The school chocolate fundraisers. When Riley tries to sell chocolate bars for his own profit, he draws the attention of real gangsters who treat chocolate fundraising like drug trafficking. Up to and including using intimidation and violence against their competitors.

Fried chicken. In Woodcrest and many other American cities, countless people wait through long lines and heavy traffic just to try out some new KFC. When the restaurants have shortages of chicken, people go nuts and start riots. And even after a mysterious food-borne disease causes millions to become ill, a lot of people still want to eat the fried chicken.

Shout-Out: It's probably safe to say that McGruder, or at least some creators and producers on the show are big fans of Star Wars.

Shown Their Work: In "Bitches to Rags", Thugnificent tries to make crack. He ends up burning it because he's cooking the mixture far too hot too quickly, a mistake commonly made by inexperienced crack cooks.

Side Bet: Eddie Wuncler bets his assistant Vanderbilt that he can get Robert to sign himself into slavery. He wins.

Commercial announcer: Women, pregnant women, and most men should not take Zortafrinex. Known side-effects include dry mouth, upset stomach, mild death, blindness, massive heart attack, difficulty breathing, and rectal fungus. Almost all men who took Zortafrinex experienced a severe loss in sexual performance. This is normal. Please stop taking Zortafrinex immediately if you feel mild discomfort on or in testicles as this can be a sign of a rare and extremely unpleasant side-effect known as Total Scrotal Implosion. If Total Scrotal Implosion should occur, call your doctor right away. If you cannot move or talk due to the debilitating pain of Total Scrotal Implosion, please have a loved one call your doctor. There is no cure for Total Scrotal Implosion. Zortafrinex: Always the right choice.

Sir Swears-a-Lot: Many characters are very foul-mouthed, some more so than others. The only person who doesn't ever use profanity is Jazmine.

Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Like the comic strip, this series is very much on the cynical side of the scale, perhaps even more so. Occasionally, it has an optimistic undertone (i.e., things are bad, but they can get better). "Return of the King" is an illustration of this, where Martin Luther King Jr.'s peaceful protesting, which proved to be hugely effective in the 1960s, is seen as weak-willed and un-American in the 21st century post-9/11.

Sorry Ociffer: In "Mr. Medicinal", Granddad is high on marijuana when he is pulled over by an officer, Officer Douche.

So What Do We Do Now?: Huey's reaction to Obama's election in "It's a Black President, Huey Freeman" has shades of this. It's unclear if he's just ambivalent about Obama or if he simply feels useless now. His juxtaposition with Uncle Ruckus suggests it's the latter.

Stealth Parody: While obviously a satire of modern black culture, this series also takes pride in mocking things that makes America in general look stupid, such as the overreaction of the bird flu and the Obama hype.

Tom and Sarah, though portrayed as decent people, are milquetoast establishment Strawman Democrats. Tom once tried to kidnap Ralph Nader for taking votes away from Al Gore, thus earning the title of "the first moderate liberal extremist".

Uncle Ruckus is used to parody white nationalists, despite being black, and Tea Party Republicans.

"Wingmen" featured Dewey Jenkins, a fake Muslim who writes bad poetry because he's "down with the struggle". Huey, an actual leftist radical, finds him disgraceful.

In "The Trial of R. Kelly", when a female R. Kelly supporter derided the anti-Kelly protesters, who were prominent black intellectuals, as "uppity niggas" for having the temerity for not supporting a singer accused of urinating on 14-year-old girl, and stressing the importance of reading.

Huey got this from his old friends when traveling back to Chicago to attend a funeral, with Dewey mocking him for not being "down with the struggle" and moving to "Whitecrest". His other friend Cairo further insults him and Granddad, causing him to fight back.

Riley: Pause. Granddad: Pause? Pause what? Riley: You said somethin' gay, so you gotta say "no homo," or else you's a homo. Granddad: What did I say gay? Riley: You said you was gonna give this dude everything you got, no homo. Granddad: That's not gay! I said I was gonna give the man everything I got! Riley: Pause, Granddad! If it sound gay it's gay, and you gotta say "no homo!" How I know you not a homo, Granddad, if you don't say "no homo?" Granddad: I'm not saying "no homo!" Riley: Ok, you wanna be a homo... Granddad: Stop calling your granddaddy a homo! Riley: Then say "no homo!" Granddad: I don't wanna say "no homo!" I'ma homo your ass if you don't stop saying "pause!" Riley: Pause.

In "The Color Ruckus", Ruckus' dad gives a scathing one to him. But Ruckus returns the favor later in the episode:

Ruckus: No, no, keep talking, keep talking dad. Let it all out of your system, that's the proper eulogy this woman deserves. Oh, she did this to you, and now you're doing it to us, and it's getting old, it's getting real old, old man! So finish what you were saying, sit down AND SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Uncle Tomfoolery: This series often plays offensive black stereotypes for humor, usually satirically. Despite this though, it often lambastes low-brow black shows and movies for heavily indulging in this.

Vocal Evolution: Huey and Riley's voices are slightly higher pitched in Season 1. This is most noticeable when they're yelling.

"Well Done, Son!" Guy: Tobias probably didn't know that his owner Colonel Lynchwater was his real father, but their relationship echoes the more typical version of this. When the Colonel calls Tobias "son", his eyes light up noticeably.

Western Terrorists: Huey, who is known to be a far-left radical, is actually on the federal government's watchlist of suspected "domestic terrorists". While Huey is sometimes shown to be engaging in illegal activities, he never actually has the chance to do anything terroristic.

Huey is supposed to be a master of kung fu, but he never won a fight, not counting Martial Arts Kickball. The only people he seems to be able to beat are his younger brother Riley and those few Mook guards in "... Or Die Tryin'". This is justified, as the only people who have beaten him are much older masters of kung fu, who take him seriously.

Bushido Brown is killed thanks to this.

World of Badass: Senior citizens, psychotic women, and even Uncle Ruckus can match Huey, martial arts expert though he may be.

Luna. She tries to kill Granddad because she thinks he's cheating on her, locks up Huey and Riley so they can't help him and kidnaps Tom when he comes to help the family.

Siri. After Robert buys an iPhone, Siri helps him out greatly, but after he declares his love for her, she goes completely yandere on him because nobody ever said that to her before. She does everything beyond her programming to ensure that Robert cannot leave her. She calls 911 on him when he threatens to smash the phone with a hammer, hacks his Facebook page and posts explicit content that Jazmine might have seen, controls his bank account, and just all around grabs his life by the balls. She even Photoshops his image into an Al Qaeda terrorist, copies his voice and threatens to nuke the U.S., and orders a drone strike on his position.

Yellow Peril: The Chinese kickball team in "The Red Ball" are a pack of cheating, lying, manipulative brutes. Though they are funded by Mr. Long-dou, the Chinese rival of Ed Wuncler I.

You Are Grounded: In "Home Alone", Huey punishes Riley by grounding him and forbidding him from leaving the house. Huey enforces this with kicks to the face.

You Didn't Ask: When Robert finally asks Stinkmeaner's clone to leave him alone:

Stinkmeaner II: Well sure, all you had to do was ask. I'm just a clone of Stinkmeaner, I don't even know you.

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